David Grutman’s Planta makes vegan dining cool (and mainstream)

Nightlife guru (and now restaurateur) David Grutman opens an outpost of Toronto’s popular Planta, a vegan restaurant, with its own rooftop garden in South Beach. Executive Chef David Lee leads the kitchen.

The space:

Undeniably chic, the airy and whitewashed compound in South of Fifth has soaring ceilings, black and white flooring, skylights, an indoor courtyard and a bar adorned with copper pineapples.

Healthy cocktails?

Well, yes. Concoctions blend vice with virtue by using cold-pressed juices and healing ingredients like activated charcoal in the Charcoal Bourbon Sour or the kombucha-spiked mojito.

Be prepared to eat:

Plant-based dishes that appeal to the uninitiated. Effort is made to cloak the plant-based cooking in familiar ways – “crab cakes” (made with hearts of palm), a variety of pizzas and things like cauliflower tots and coconut ceviche. This SoBe outpost also features a plant-based sushi bar with things like dehydrated watermelon nigiri. Prices are on par for South Beach with starters $11-$18 and mains $19-$25.

Start things off with the cauli tots and the charred “octopus,” really oyster mushrooms festooned with edible flowers, pico de gallo, chulpe corn and coconut milk.

The burger is a hefty patty made of black beans, mashed lentils and beetroot and comes with a nice portion of fries. Meat and cheese-less pizzas include the The Frenchie made with mushrooms, squash, eggplant, olives, cashew mozzarella and basil and a “Meat Lovers” topped with mushroom “bacon” and farro that’s supposed to resemble crumbled fennel sausage.